ic With Black Curtains (IC, open)

[Avenger Assembled]

"No!" said Judy firmly. "All Ah have let Leroy do is kiss me, and that was very nice, but that is all any boy is going to get to do until Ah am married," she declared. Smoothly, she tossed the chocolate bar to Ashley, the moment breaking her concentration. She paused for a moment, actually listening to Corinne's words, and some of the fire seemed to go out of her. "...oh, Ah'm sorry, Corinne, maybe Ah shouldn't have asked." She ran her fingers through her hair and looked away. "You're just so pretty, and athletic, Ah assumed you had a boyfriend back in California." 

 

Ashley cleared her throat, and Judy shook her head. "Er, that sounded weird. Ah've just never really had a boyfriend before, not like this, and Ah don't really know how it works."

[TheAbsurdist]

Pushed to her feet, all sunshine and being tall, because that's pretty much an accurate description of her in general.  Even when she was being heel to someone, she tilted her head and then had a silent laugh.  "I am six foot, three inches.  Most boys don't want to date someone taller than them.  And, the whole dance thing... I've done it since I was six.  I do anywhere from like six to twenty hours of practice for that week.  And then there are the performances.  And the learn my powers stuff.  Any boyfriend I might want would get like..."  she paused, and looked upwards, mouthing out a complicated calculus of time allotment,  "five minutes of attention from me, Tuesday after next?  And that's not fair to them."

She moved over to Judy, and slipped an arm around her shoulders, "But, I did have a couple of things like boyfriend back in California, when I was moderately less busy.  And I've been on birth control since before I started here at Claremont.  I have sort of had a boyfriend, I guess, but... then my powers and coming here.  And before you ask, yes, I've had sex.  And I've kissed a girl."  She glanced over Judy's head to stick out her tongue at Ashley.  "But, realistically, you're a teenager, any kiss, or relationship, doesn't mean you are committing to someone til the end."  A squeeze to her shoulders then, as she rested her chin on the crown of Judy's head.

"So... tell them you like them both, but things are hectic, and you are sorting through it.  The bad thing would be not telling them, and not being honest."

[Avenger Assembled]

"You did what!?" said Judy, jumping a bit at the dual confessions, pulling away slightly from her proximity to Corinne. Ohmigod! She took a moment to compose herself, pressing her hand to her chest. "Ah'm sorry, Corinne, that's just...you really kissed a girl?!" she asked again, her accent especially thick. 

 

"Imagine that," commented Watchdog, giving her sister a distinct look. She'd come off the wall slightly when Judy jumped and pulled away from Corinne, but seemed to settle as Judy stayed on the couch with her. 

 

"Well, all right, Ah mean, Ah did go to the GSA meetings with Ashley," Judy said. "Ah just...Ah just didn't expect you to say that," she went on. "Ah mean, Ah don't think I met any gay people until I even came to Claremont, except for Ashley of course," she lied glibly. "Ah sort of assumed a lot of people here were having sex, or at least had a boyfriend, Ah mean, they gave us those very...uh, detailed descriptions in sex ed class." She made a little gesture with her hands that Corinne remembered from the infamous banana lecture. "But then Ah realized Ah was the only one with a steady boyfriend, and that was..." She reached up and touched the cross around her neck before saying, "Ah'm not even supposed to be doing that!" 

 

"

[TheAbsurdist]

Corinne didn't linger it awkward, the touch had meant to be re-assuring, and when Judy jerked Corinne pulled back.  "I didn't initiate it, it happened at the wrap party of my last performance in LA.  Performers are weird, and when you are around people the biochemistry tends to make things, more?  My boyfriend, or whatever he was, was the male lead, and we danced together a lot, so tension being what it was."  She shrugged a little bit, and moved her hands to pick up Percival between them, and raising him up over her head, as he yawned dramatically.  "But, I don't know what I am, I'm almost eighteen, I have super powers, and not enough time to try and have another, and the dance school... well I am taller than the boys."

She giggled, tucking her head down a bit, and lifting her shoulders, "I mean, my mom is a stunt woman in Hollywood, so I had to self-defense, and we had to have the sex talk younger than most, because she was worried since I was going into the performance side of things that someone might trying to force me to do something to get a part, or something like that."

Then her jaw set, and she looked right at Ashley, "Give me some f***ing credit Ash.  I get you're the protective bodyguard big sister, but Je-"  Corinne stopped herself as she looked at Judy, then sighed, "... but I have self-respect so I am not gonna gonna try the 'nice girl' bull to get into someone pants.  On top of that..." she looked back to Judy, "I respect you too much to make a pass, and I think I'd make things worse for most anyone I was with."  She let out a slow breath, and hugged Percy in close, as she rake fingers through her short blonde hair.

"Kissing is fine.  As long as your are comfortable to it, and I am pretty such anyone who tried more would end up with more than a broken jaw," trying to get back to cool, calm, collected Corinne.

[Avenger Assembled]

A look passed between Judy and Ashley, and the former smiled thinly before adjusting her skirt where it lay past her knees. "It's all right, Corinne, she was more worried about you than me. If Ah got surprised and flashed over in here, Ah'd hurt you and your little hedgie." She smiled down at the little guy, obviously looking for permission to skritch his belly, then looked up at Corinne, reaching over to take the other girl's hand. Judy, as always, was just a little warm to the touch, her average temperature being somewhere around 100 degrees. "Ah'm not bothered you kissed a girl," she went on. "Ah was just surprised because everyone else here who does that, uh, sort of thing, they talk about it a lot." She shrugged a little, still chewing in her head over the confirmation that her friend had had sex. Well Ah guess Ah'm not easy after all! she thought.

 

She reached down and removed the cross from her neck, twisting the chain around her fingers almost like brass knuckles. "Ah want to do a lot of things Ah don't get to do," she admitted. "But just because Ah want it now doesn't mean it's the right thing. Ah know Ah'll be prouder if Ah stay strong now than if Ah give in just because Ah'm away from home."

[TheAbsurdist]

Corinne's expression said she didn't buy it, but her agitation released.  "I am not of a mind to test, but..."  She looked at Judy with frank appraisal, "...yeah."  She let it drop, and when Judy reached out, Corinne moved the hedgie into position for the girl to scritch and pet without disturbing.  "He can be grumpy, watch out, I need to feed him before I get to bed."  She looked down at Percy and murmured softly to him.  She was getting fine control, more and more, 

"Who I've kissed, or slept with, isn't important to me," she said it confidently, and brushed aside the the implications of what Judy said, as she knew the girl didn't mean it, and she didn't want to start a fight.  Ash was effectively her sister's bouncer, and she didn't want to get heated herself, or show off her powers in a sort of pissing contest with Judy.  That wouldn't end well, at all.

[April]

Abigail shrugged.

 

"They have something to do with one of Prime humanity's myriad efforts to annihilate itself," she said to Leroy.  "The museum is right there, if you're interested.  Admission is free."

 

"But, no, my father had more important things to worry about."  Which isn't to say he didn't lend some support during the second world war, but he was more interested in the magical threats that arose during that conflict.  Like her mother.

[Ari]

"Oh, those times are lovely, so much to learn from them! Mother keeps a Doomsday Clock above the Stareway so she never takes anything about the homeworld for granted." Leroy's fingers danced through the pieces, discarding them one by one as he searched for a specific crumb of the artwork. "Wish my father had such important work. All he does is teach people to play instruments. Refuses to even use his powers." His roaming golden eyes stopped, a thin satisfied smile sliding along his mouth as he extracted the center of the flag. With great care, he placed it precisely where it went relative to the painting. He looked at it for a long time.

 

"Most of the mystic forces in this world are old," he said at last, "have they left any artifacts in local museums? Or are those just handed to the League? Something about them seems drawn to old buildings, going by the stories I hear. Should like to get Judy one." A warmer, softer smile lingered as he scanned the pile. He nudged Astrid "See anything?"

Edited March 12, 2019 by Ari